Comparison of commercial semen performance following artificial insemination in cows

Abstract

One of the essential elements in achieving high conception rate in dairy cow is good semen quality. This study was conducted to compare the performance of commercial semen following artificial insemination (AI) in cows. For this purpose a total of 170 individual cross bred cows and their progeny data were recorded randomly from five selected regions of Chattogram using a structured questionnaire. The features in this study were determined using a basic descriptive test for identifying general characteristics, correlation to find the relationship between independent variables (birth weight, sex, congenital abnormalities, respiratory distress, navel infection, calf scour in progenies) with a p ≤ 0.5. The incidence of congenital abnormalities was significantly associated with both semen sources (P=0.03) and it was 83.33% in semen source A and 16.67% in semen source B. Respiratory distress in progenies were positively correlated (P=0.01) with semen source B, especially those were born from 87.5% and 100% blood (33.33%). Birth weight (P=0.06) and sex (P=0.68) of newborn calves was not significantly associated with any semen source. However, age of cows was responsible for congenital abnormalities in progenies (P=0.03) and it was prone to calves born from more than 5 year old cows. No significant variation were found in progeny performance with primiparous or multiparous cows. Cows with BCS 3 or 4 showed statistically significant value (P=0.04) with respiratory distress in newborn calves. Effect of vaccination in pregnant cow on calf scour was significantly (P=0.01) associated.